When I first started NationalParksWithT.com at the beginning of 2018, there were 417 areas under the management of the National Park Service, America’s best idea. At that time, I had about 15 years’ worth of National Park-centric digital photography and stories to tell. It was my intention to provide a resource for other like-minded travelers, which would also serve as a remembrance of where I’d been and a reminder of where I still need to go.
After a few months of writing, scheduling and publishing blog entries, I realized that my ‘mission statement’ needed to be expanded to encompass all of our public lands, not just the sites managed by the National Park Service. While the NPS sites generally form the framework for our itineraries, we often find ourselves visiting sites outside of this network. The agencies I often check when planning a vacation are
- The National Park Service (419 units)
- The National Wildlife Refuge System (567 refuges)
- The Bureau of Land Management (877 areas)
- The USDA Forest Service (154 National Forests, 20 National Grasslands)
That’s 2037 federally managed places to go! Add to that the numerous state & city parks, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the National Register of Historic Places and the opportunities to explore this country are almost limitless. Thanks for sharing the journey with me.